Maslow's Needs
by ReMeDy10
Summary: KaixJou Forced to work together after a fight, Jou and Kaiba try to meet the basic needs prescribed by Maslow's Hierarchy in their psychology class.
1. Chapter 1

Jou inconspicuously snaked his earphones through his sweatshirt, weaving the tiny speakers upwards through his collar. He focused his eyes to the blackboard in a serious attempt at feigning interest, but in his mind he was desperate to distract himself from the boring drone of his teacher. Just as he was adjusting the volume of his mp3 player, he was shaken to awareness by Honda.

"Dude, the teacher's trying to get your attention," Honda whispered. It quickly became apparent to Jou that the whole class had been watching him for several moments now, wondering with amused suspense what the consequence of his obvious inattention would be. Jou silenced his music at once to confront his scowling teacher.

"Jou, would you mind explaining why you're troubling all of us with your obnoxious music when you're supposed to be taking notes?" Mrs. Tasaki asked with false patience.

"Heh, sorry, teach'-- I didn't know it was that loud. It's just I already read this stuff last night and I pretty much got it all, so I figured I'd keep to myself while you went on with your lesson." He smiled with stunning charisma, inwardly chanting, _please believe me; please believe me._

"Is that so?" The teacher's widening grin indicated that she hadn't bought Jou's story for a second. Normally she would have issued a severe scolding for such an offense, but she had a soft-spot for the rough street kid she had come to recognize as intensely passionate and optimistic. Instead she decided to play along with him. "Well, if that's the case then you won't mind working with a partner who's _more on your level_ for our next activity. Kaiba, I think, already read this material, isn't that right?"

She directed her gaze towards the back of the room where the young brunette was seated. He had been discreetly typing on his laptop, a regular occurrence that Mrs. Tasaki had given up on reprimanding him for. She had, however, enjoyed punishing him in more subtle ways when the opportunity revealed itself.

Without missing a beat the CEO spoke. "We both know that mutt didn't read anything last night, and I'd really rather not waste my time trying to help the idiot understand it." Kaiba's eyes never even left his computer and he spoke with such insolent finality that the teacher had to cut off Jou's angry comeback with her own. Could he really be serious?

Months of enduring Kaiba's holier-than-thou attitude had driven her to the edge. She silenced Jou's stream of insults by slamming her hands on top of her desk. "I have had it up to here with you, Kaiba! While you are in my classroom, you will assume the role as a regular student and address me as your teacher, whatever your standing outside of school may be. I will not tolerate your disrespect any longer."

It was here that anyone who knew Kaiba intimately would have noticed that he actually seemed a little ashamed. But of course, he maintained his icy composure and politely waited for Mrs. Tasaki's rant to end. Meanwhile, Jou was silently thanking the Gods that Kaiba's usual arrogance had finally caused the teacher to snap, diverting her attention from the original dispute.

"I expect you to help your peers like anyone else here would, as we are a class and thereby function as a group. You _will_ work with Jou for the remainder of the period and apologize to him for your offensive remarks."

By now, the entire class was nearly falling off their chairs from this exciting distraction. They glanced back and forth between the three parties. Mrs. Tasaki was glaring expectantly towards the two teens; Jou was looking torn between satisfaction and attacking his rival for calling him a mutt; Kaiba looked positively expressionless.

After several seconds of tense silence, Kaiba relented. "Jou, I'm sorry for expressing my hatred for you in such a callous manner."

The teacher threw up her hands in exasperation and everyone in the room burst into giggles.

"Jeez, Kaiba, no need to apologize. I hate you, too!" Jou faced him with fake cheeriness. "I just can't wait to work with you, and we can write hate letters, and sing hate songs, and get each other hate-teddy bears on Valentine's Day, and—"

"That's enough, Jou. Everyone get to work," Mrs. Tasaki ordered, throwing a sheet of instructions on the overhead projector. "I give up!"

Everyone in the room started to shuffle about and rearrange their seats. Honda laughed at his blonde-haired friend as he went to sit with Anzu. "Have fun!"

Jou grumbled for a moment but then decided that the best way to handle this would be to annoy Kaiba. Another ingenious conclusion. He plastered on his cheeky smile yet again and pushed through to where his blue-eyed adversary was seated.

"—And celebrate our hate anniversary (which is the day we met, of course), and—"

"Can it, mutt. This whole mess is your fault. The least you could do is shut your trap and try to get this done as quickly as possible," Kaiba interjected. He threw the text book between him and the blonde as if trying to illustrate his point further, but Jou was instantly fired up about his words.

"My fault? _My fault?!_ You're the arrogant ass that had to go and talk back to her. She wouldn't have really made us work together. The old lady always likes to make me sweat. But that's right: _you_ wouldn't have noticed that because you're always clacking away back here on your stupid computer like your trying to prove something!"

"What on earth are you rambling about?"

"You! Everyone knows that you don't have that much work to do. You're probably just sitting back here Google-ing pictures of yourself that you can drool over and writing down new ways to be a dick."

"Well I'm glad you think I'm drool-worthy, mutt, but what I do on my computer is none of your concern. And a third-rate duelist like you would never be able to understand even a fraction of the new gaming equipment my company is producing."

"Ugh, save your shameless self-promoting for one of your ugly fan girls."

"Ooh, new vocabulary? The puppy's learning new tricks."

"This puppy's gonna punch you in your mouth if you don't quit it with the dog-jokes."

"I'd like to see you try, _mutt_— "

_SMACK!_

Apparently, Jou was good for his word. If there was one thing he hated more than Kaiba it was when people backed down on their word, and even though he knew it was asking for an ass-kicking, he couldn't threaten the bastard and then not go through with it. So Jou punched Kaiba square in the jaw just as he'd promised, knowing that the CEO got what he deserved no matter how bad the monster of a man was going to make him pay for it.

"You fuckin'—…do you know who I am?" Kaiba asked in angry disbelief as he held his bloody face. This had definitely caught the attention of their peers and Mrs. Tasaki, but before she could make it over to the boys Kaiba had regained his senses. His blue eyes hardened and he lunged at Jou.

Kaiba wound his right fist up and punched Jou to the ground, falling through the careening chairs to land on top of him and raining one painful blow after another. The blonde managed to grab one arm but couldn't fight the strength above him properly from his position. He thrust his hips upwards trying to unbalance his tormentor, rolling them over across the floor. They tumbled around the back of the room, disregarding every person or piece of furniture in their way and pummeling one another into bloody throbs.

Mrs. Tasaki was desperately trying to pry the two apart at this point, but ended up getting hit herself every time she got too close. The boys were fighting with such single-minded fury that they wouldn't even stop to her shrieking about being expelled.

Jou, however, was thoroughly enjoying every moment of this brutal altercation. Even while his stomach was being assaulted by two strong fists, he couldn't help but relish that he had managed to degrade the mighty Seto Kaiba to a petty physical confrontation. And knowing that this fight was probably Kaiba's first since he was a child was even more enthralling. Jou was used to this, he could ignore the pain and thrive on the feeling of being so awake, so alert, so angry. But Kaiba was pure confusion and frustration; every one of Jou's attacks was a lively ache that lingered on his skin and threatened to bring him down.

Finally, the two began to get exhausted enough for Honda, whose help had been recruited by the frantic teacher, to pull them apart. He plucked Kaiba off of Jou and unceremoniously dropped him to the floor. Kaiba and Jou accepted this as the end of the fight, and sat sprawled out across from each other. Their faces were red and bruised, their knuckles cut and bloody, but the fire in their eyes was just as healthy as ever.

"I told you I'd punch you in ya mouth," panted Jou.

All he got in reply was Kaiba's seething insult, "_mutt_,"so he let his head drop against the wall behind him and chuckled through his ragged breaths.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Okay, so I was going to write more, but this just seemed like the perfect way to end the chapter. Consider it an intro and the plot will become more apparent in the next part of the story.

Constructive criticism, suggestions, and ideas appreciated!


	2. Chapter 2

Kaiba and Jou had been dragged to the principal's by a fuming Mrs. Tasaki and the school security guard. They didn't look at each other at all; they just walked along together, silently bearing their teachers outrage. After about ten minutes waiting in the secretaries' lounge while the adults talked, the two were finally summoned into Mr. Suro's office.

"Sit," he commanded as they entered. The boys obliged, taking the chairs adjacent to their stern superior.

"I don't know who you kids are that you think you can repeatedly cause disruption in this school without consequence, but this incident really takes the cake. I want to know exactly what happened, and believe me, if you lie I _will_ find out."

"He started it!" Jou burst out.

"What? You hit me first, idiot," Kaiba countered, annoyed that the boy could go right back to his obnoxious self in a matter of seconds.

"Enough!" Mr. Suro shook his head in exasperation. "I should have known you two couldn't calm yourselves down long enough to at least agree on what took place. Never mind with that, we'll deal with the details later.

"Jou, I have no doubt from your past record that you hit Kaiba first, but I know you would never do such a thing without provocation. I think the bottom line is that you both were in the wrong. But what I want to get through to you both, because I believe you to be truly outstanding boys despite this rivalry, is that in the end this fight was probably about nothing. I know you dislike each other for some strange reason, but things like this are frequently the result of some long-forgotten misunderstanding. That's why when you return from your one-week suspension—"

"What?!"

"Yes, Jou, one week! Be thankful you're not being expelled. When you return you will have to undergo peer mediation to get to the root of your problems—"

"_WHAT?!_"

"Stop interrupting me, Jou! Ahem… In addition, at Mrs. Tasaki's request you will both serve a total of ten days detention, during which you will work together to make-up the assignments you're going to be missing."

"Mr. Suro!" Jou seized his opportunity to make his case. "This is a little over the top, don't you think? I mean, Kaiba's a jerk, we both know that. I'm never gonna get along with him! And if I could just go get my assignments ahead of time I can do them while I'm on vacation—err, I mean suspension. If I do the whole detention thing I'm gonna miss work, and my boss already told me I can't be late anymore."

"The mutt is right, I have a company to run and a brother to take care of. I shouldn't be punished for self-defense."

"Boys," Mr. Suro's impatience was starting to reveal itself. "I'm sorry if you have other obligations, but you should have thought of that before-hand. That is my final word. You can go to the nurse, now."

With that, Mr. Suro resumed whatever he had been working on earlier, completely disregarding the teens as they stepped outside.

Neither of them actually went to the nurse. Instead, they walked down the vacant hallways in silence. Jou parted from Kaiba to stop at his locker, stuffing anything that might benefit him in his upcoming week into his backpack.

The blonde hauled his things through the doors of the school. Blinding sunlight met his eyes and for a moment he stood squinting into the parking lot. Kaiba was waiting on a stone bench with his briefcase, relaxing in the day's warmth.

Jou nearly said something to Kaiba, who had the nerve to look so peaceful after his own job had pretty much been thrown out the window by their sentencing. Kaiba would likely find some way to turn any insult around though, so Jou opted to walk right past the elder teen in a pointed display of maturity.

Holding his head high, he whisked right past Kaiba with the most pride that he could muster.

"Mutt," Kaiba's voice rang behind Jou's back.

_Oh no, I just want to get home. Haven't we fought enough today?_

Jou reluctantly turned into the piercing blue gaze. "Yes, moneybags?"

"Do you need a ride?"

_What?_ That certainly caught him off-guard. Jou opened and shut his mouth, obviously confused by this apparent generosity.

"Well, do you? My limo will be here in a minute. Look, I already see it up the street."

Jou didn't know what to say, so he just sat next to the brunette. He couldn't pass up this chance to be friendly with this guy, whom at one point in his life he thought he could be close to. It almost surprised Jou how readily he accepted Kaiba's company after everything that just happened. _Did our fight change something? Does he respect me more, somehow?_

The limo pulled alongside the curb, slowly crunching gravel below its wheels. Kaiba stood and immediately opened the door, ducking into the low automobile. Jou had just a moments' glance of the luxury inside when the door shut behind Kaiba.

Jou could do nothing but stay cemented to the spot, watching in disbelief as the tinted window hummed into a down-position. Kaiba's smug face sneered at Jou.

"What are you gaping at, mutt?"

"You—You told me you'd give me a ride," Jou stuttered, incredulity seeping into his offended tone.

"I never said any such thing." Kaiba didn't expect Jou to react like this, all _hurt._ His smirk was starting to lose its' staying power, and all at once he didn't want to be facing the victim of his mean prank anymore. He was just beginning to roll his window back up when Jou's expression reddened.

"You're a fucking jerk, you know that?" He threw his backpack onto the grass behind him and reached for the nearest rock, his lengthy arm hurling it at one of the windows. The strong glass didn't break, but it splintered and cracked in a spider-web shape. Jou snatched up his bag and huffed in the opposite direction, not daring to look back at the risk that Kaiba would see how wounded he really was.

"Mr. Kaiba! Mr. Kaiba, are you okay?" His chauffer was rolling down the divider, panic evident in his voice. "I'm calling the police."

Kaiba stared at Jou's retreating back, a strange regret twisting its' way into his chest. "Don't bother. I deserved it."

A steady quiet met his ears, and then the chauffers' dutiful "yes sir."

I'm sorry it's shorter, and not much else has happened, but I thought this chapter could be kind of important to character development and setting the outline of what's to come. Plus, all of your really kind reviews prompted me to make an update sooner. I'm getting out of school soon, so my updates will be faster in the summer, but for now bear with me!

Again, I LOVED your reviews. Thank you so much!! :)


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